Transforming Tradition - Community revitalization through sustainable renovation & historic preservation
The National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior provides guidelines that the Green & Main Pilot Project follows as it merges energy efficient technology with historical preservation. This article provides links to various online resources for these areas.
![Casement art glass allows for views, light, and air while enhancing privacy, and makes decoration organic to window (Frederick C. Robie House, Chicago, Illinois [1910]](http://greenandmain.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/joel-1-150x150.jpg "Casement art glass allows for views, light, and air while enhancing privacy, and makes decoration organic to window (Frederick C. Robie House, Chicago, Illinois [1910]")
Frank Lloyd Wright was not a green designer in the contemporary sense, but he was doing some things that today one might call sustainable. He was concerned with natural climate control, particularly trying to keep buildings cool and ventilated naturally. He believed in the value of natural light and maximized its creative use in his designs.
Like a number of other architects of his era, such as Daniel Burnham and the French early modernist Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright became interested in urban and community planning and gave it considerable attention throughout his career.
The old school in Cambria, Iowa was in need of a new gym floor at the same time Green & Main was looking for salvaged maple flooring. It was a match. Repurposing the old flooring for the Green & Main first floor was a perfect fit for not only aesthetic needs but for our sustainability goals as well.
The other day I was helping the teenage son of a friend pick weeds out of the backyard brick patio. I took that moment to tell Owen about stormwater management and how, even though we live in a built environment, we are not separate from the world around us. We are responsible for managing and engineering ways that are compatible at the very least – and assistive at the very best – in creating a sustainable way to exist and thrive in tandem with one another.
Des Moines was privileged to host The National Main Streets Conference last week where 1,300 people convened over a four-day period. Events around Des Moines ranged from tours to evening outings. Green & Main was part of the on-site tours for historical and re-purposed buildings. Read how the Main Street Four Point Approach has benefited 45 Iowa communities.
Not long ago the construction crew of Green & Main started their day with the objective of laying pipe from the Pilot Project building to the existing sewer line on 19th Street. However, renovation of the building’s basement made this project more than a simple connection into an existing sewer main.
Sustainability has become a core component of modern-day historic preservation activism. Indeed, we now recognize that the two are integrally related: there is no building greener than the one not built. By finding ways to creatively reuse and adapt existing structures to modern-day activities, we not only “save” our history, but also reduce the need for new construction.
